white-spotted hermit crab problem

[TobiasK]

I got a ? hope this is the right place for it but anyway. I just got in to keeping salt water and I have set up my 20L to try it out. I may have made a mistake I got 2 green chromis and a hermit crab and did not even think of looking one up first and so I got a white-spotted hermit crab. I was thinking about getting into keeping a reef tank but just found out my crab is very bad for a reef tank. I'm kind of liking him and hate to take him back I will be moving everything to my 37 gallon tank. I was hoping if there any way he might work in there? I was also wondering if they will eat everything in a reef tank or if any one has had luck with them in a reef tank?

[optical]

i was told that hermit crabs, when they are big enough, will sometimes chow corals. some do and some dont. if there is a good food source for them, they probablly wont eat corals. just watch them closely. start out with a small colony of buttons or zoos and see if he eats them. i probablly wouldnt even risk it though and take that crab back and get some small electric blue legs, which in my opinion are one of the most colorful ones.

[BubbaWPB]

Some hermit crabs get big. Some will chow down on fish. I don't know how big the white-spot crab gets. Also, the bigger the crab, the more stuff s/he will knock over in the tank.

I would see if the LFS would take him back, or get a cheap small tank for him to have his own space.